After a pre-race pasta lunch and picking up our numbers for tomorrow’s races, we decided to tak a walk into the Bricktown Historic District. This is a newly renovated warehouse area that has been converted into OKC’s biggest hotspot for fine restaurants, clubs, galleries and shops.
This is the Bricktown canal, which extends from the Oklahoma River, past the ballpark and into the district. In addition to the above mentioned amenities, there is a water taxi to take you the full length of the canal, very similar (but on a smaller scale) to what is in San Antonio. I would guess this place would be very active in the evening as the price of our parking space doubled, from $5 to $10 at five in the afternoon.
This is a new 15,000 seat Bricktown Ballpark, home to the Oklahoma City Dodgers, the LA Dodgers Triple A affiliate.
Murals painted on the side of buildings along the canal:
Another photo of the canal as it winds through the district:
This is the Centennial Land Run Monument, near the south end of the Bricktown Canal. The land rush officially started with a cannon shot.
There are currently 36 individual statues in the monument, with a total of 45 pieces planned, making it one of the largest freestanding bronze sculptures in the world at 12 yards wide by over 100 yards in length. Local sculptor Paul Moore will finish the final nine statues in the next few years. These pieces are extremely detailed and all seem to reflect the excitement of the rush. Notice the jack rabbit escaping from the two lead riders (one is carrying a flag).
This is a statue of a Chickasaw warrior in Chichasaw Plaza, located near the Brickyard Canal. The Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized Native American nation, is headquartered in Ada, OK. In 1830, they were removed from their lands east of the Mississippi to Oklahoma in what is now referred to as the “Trail of Tears”.
Continuing back up the canal to our truck. They really did a fine job in building and landscaping this area.
That is the headquarters of Sonic on the right, directly across the canal is Toby Keith’s restaurant and bar.
Cathy and I both ran in races early Saturday morning. Cathy ran in the 5K and I chose the 25K. We have enjoyed wonderful weather the past two days here but this morning we woke up to cold, 40+ MPH winds. The winds actually blew the metal start/finish chutes across the road prior to the start of the 25K and I ran most of the way with my hat on backwards to keep it from blowing off (I did turn it around at each of the photo areas to avoid the gangsta look). We ran a super-flat, out-and-back, completely circling a lake and it should have been a fast course, The fierce winds coming off the lake most of the way negated the flat advantage. This is me nearing the finish line in a non-record time . . .
We returned to camp exhausted and are now in the process of cleaning up and getting the motor home ready for travel. We will be leaving Oklahoma in the morning heading east towards Little Rock and will be visiting the Civil Rights Museums there.
Travelling with the Schinglers 